CHICAGO – When Roger Clemens makes his fourth stab at entering the 300 Win Club is entirely up to the future Hall of Famer.

“Unless he tells me otherwise, he will pitch Friday,” pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre said yesterday of Clemens’ next start against the Cardinals at Yankee Stadium.

Clemens, who ran out of steam in the seventh inning of a 5-2 loss to the Cubs at Wrigley Field Saturday due to an upper respiratory infection, could go Saturday if the illness weakens him further or interferes with his two bullpen sessions this week. He is slated to throw in the pen tomorrow and Wednesday.

After watching Juan Acevedo flush a 1-0 lead by giving up a three-run homer on his first pitch to Eric Karros, Clemens felt so lousy that he didn’t talk to reporters following the emotionally draining game. Yesterday, when Stottlemyre said Clemens sounded worse than he did Saturday, Clemens said enough to say he wasn’t going to talk.

“I am not going to do anything with the way my body is feeling today,” said Clemens, who looked drawn and tired. “I will pass today and [talk] another day.”

Saturday, Clemens was battling a nasty cough and yesterday his chest sounded congested.

“I won’t know anything new until [tomorrow],” Stottlemyre said.

Stottlemyre and Joe Torre didn’t second-guess themselves for removing Clemens with runners on first and second and the right-handed hitting Karros at the plate.

“I can’t fault [Clemens] for walking [Moises] Alou because he was still trying to make quality pitches and not challenging him because he can hit it out of the park,” Stottlemyre said.

Torre said leaving Clemens in would have been the easy call, but watching from the dugout and listening to Stottlemyre, Torre knew Clemens was done after the five-pitch walk to Alou.

“Leaving him in would have been the easy call,” Torre said. “That wasn’t a consideration. We had a plan at the start of the inning. I could have left him in, but he had been struggling for two hitters.”

Clemens was animated in the dugout after being removed. Some took it as Clemens being ticked at Torre and Stottlemyre. And while he hasn’t addressed the issue, Torre and Stottlemyre said Clemens was letting home-plate umpire Dan Iassogna have it for missing the first two pitches to Alou.

“Roger never wants to come out of the game, but he was mad at the umpire,” Torre said.

Torre used the struggling Acevedo over Antonio Osuna or Jeff Weaver. “He’s in the bullpen,” Torre said of Acevedo, whose roster spot could be in jeopardy after torching Clemens’ bid for 300.

Torre’s plan was for Acevedo to get Karros and then go to lefty Chris Hammond. He said he didn’t want to use Osuna at that point, preferring to save him for the eighth. And while Weaver was a consideration, Torre and Stottlemyre aren’t comfortable yet bringing in the failed starter in the middle of an inning.

“I wanted to go with somebody with more experience in that situation for one out,” Torre said.

Weaver entered the game in the eighth and gave up two runs in his first relief outing of the season.

Stottlemyre talked with Clemens briefly yesterday and didn’t get the impression that Clemens is beginning to feel the pressure of 300 after three failed attempts.

“He never looks in the past, he is always focused on the next start and that’s what he did today,” Stottlemyre said.